Cigarette dispenser



March 24, 1959 M A BUCCI ETAL CIGARETTE DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet l FiledDec. 4, 1957 m? H TUC M C 0 T nD T A W I Am 0 KN RA March 24, 1959 M. A.BUCCI ET AL CIGARETTE DISPENSER 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Dec. 4, 1957Ari/223%!!! l- INVENTORS MARK ANTHONY BUCCI ANTHONY BUCCI JR.

A TTOPNEY United States PatentfO CIGARETTE DISPENSER Mark Anthony Bucciand Anthony Bucci, Jr., Hoboken, NJ.

Application December 4, 1957, Serial No. 700,598

3 Claims. (Cl. 221-190) This invention relates to a cigarette dispenser,so designed that on elevation of a slotted upper portion of thedispenser, and subsequent depression of the same to a normal position, asingle cigarette will appear in the slot, in convenient position forremoval by a user.

It is known to provide dispensers for objects, such as matches, which ina broad sense, operate on the same principle as the present invention.The main object of the present invention is to provide an improvedconstruction for a dispenser of this type, particularly designed tofacilitate manufacture of the device from a very low cost material, suchas cardboard.

Another object of importance is to provide a dispenser of the characterstated, formed of cardboard or other readily workable and easily cutstock, which will be designed with means interengaging between the upperand lower portions, to hold the upper portion against completeseparation from the lower portion.

1 Another object is to provide a construction for a dispenser of thecharacter stated wherein the interengaging means acts only when theupper portion is moved to a raised position, predetermined as thecorrect position for locating a cigarette properly for dispensing.

- Yet another object, in the above-mentioned modification of theinvention, isto provide a cigarette-supporting "center partition thatwill not only be formed of a lowcost material, but will be transverselycompressible by a user in a manner to deliberately disengage the upperand lower portions from one another, whereby to permit the intentionalfull separation of the upper from the lower portion, in the event ofmalfunctioning of the device, or

in the event one desires to change the cigarettes therein before all thecigarettes have been dispensed.

; For further comprehension of the invention, and of the objects andadvantages thereof, reference will be had to the following descriptionand accompanying drawings, and to the appended claims in which thevarious novel features of the invention are more particularly set'forth.

i In the accompanying drawings forming a material part of thisdisclosure:

5 Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the device with the cover portionraised.

4 Fig. 2 is a perspective view with the cover portion lowered to exposea dispensed cigarette.

' Fig. 3' is an enlarged transverse sectional view substantially on line33 of Fig. 2, the dotted lines showing the cover portion in raisedposition.

' Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of the device in which portionshave been shown in section.

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of a modified base portion, v

. 2 including a base plate 11 of flat rectangular formation which, asshown in Fig. 4, may be coated over a substantial part of its area withadhesive 12, for permanently connecting to the base a rectangular,upwardly opening body portion generally designated at 14.

At this point, it should be noted that the entire device is formed of acardboard material, and said cardboard could be covered with paper, orother ornamental covering, if desired. This is considered suificientlyobvious as not to require special illustration herein.

In any event, the cardboard would, of course, be fashioned from asuitable blank, and when the blank is cut and folded, there would beprovided a box-like body portion 14 shown to particular advantage inFig. 4. This includes side walls 18 and end walls 20, extending upwardlyfrom the periphery of a flat bottom wall 1.6. The body portion, in otherwords, is merely a cardboard blank folded in the form of an upwardlyopening, rectangular box.

Designated generally at 22 is a center partition extending verticallyupwardly from bottom wall 16, with the upper end of the partition beingdisposed at a level slightly above the upper ends of the several walls(see Fig. 3). The partition 22 is also formed from a blank of cardboardmaterial, folded upon itself to include closely spaced side walls 24,integral at their lower ends with inwardly directed, confronting flanges26 adhesively secured to bottom wall 16. At its top, the partition 22,which is of inverted U-shape in cross section, has a transverselydepressed bight portion 30 providing a support ledge for a cigarette Cto be dispensed.

It will be apparent that a cigarette moving into position upon thechanneled or transversely depressed rest or ledge 30 will remain thereonby reason of the channeled formation of said ledge.

In any event, in a preferred embodiment, the partition has at its upperend projections 28 on the walls 24, said projections terminating,however, in closely spaced rela tion to the respective walls 20.

Designated generally at 32 is a cover portion of the dispenser, having arectangular body 34 slidably telescoping in the body 14 of the base.Body 32 has side walls 34 slidably contacting the inner surfaces ofwalls 18, and end walls 36 slidably contacting the inner surfaces ofwalls 20, in the space between the walls 20 and the projections 28 ofpartition 22.

Inwardly directed, confronting flanges 38 are formed on the upper endsof walls 34, coated with adhesive for a purpose to be made apparent.Integral with the lower ends of walls 34 are confronting, inwardlyprojecting, wide flanges 39 terminating at their confronting edges inclose proximity to the center partition 22 (see Fig. 3). Flanges 39merge, at their partition-adjacent edges, into upwardly directedportions 41 which in turn merge, at their upper ends, into oppositelysloped walls 40 diverging in a direction upwardly from the portions 41.Walls 40, at their divergent, upper ends, are integral with attachingflanges 43 that are adhesively secured to the inner surfaces of thewalls 34. v

Designated at 42 is a top plate of the cover portion 32, having a slot44 adapted to receive the upper-end of the partition 22 (see Figs. 2 and3) when the cover portion is lowered.

In use, a quantity of cigarettes is deposited within the dispenser, asopposite sides of the partition, withincompartments 46 defined at saidopposite sides of the partition, the bottom walls of said compartmentsbeing the sloped walls 40. By reason of this arrangement, the cigarettestend to gravitate toward and into engagement with the opposite surfacesofthe partitions. Therefore,

" when the cover portion is raised as in Fig. 1 and as in dotted linesin Fig. 3, one cigarette will fall into the channel of the ledge 30.Then, loweringof thecover portion to the Fig. 2 position will locatesaid cigarette in exposed position, dispensed for a user. The dispensing.action will continue each .time thecover portionis raisedand'then.lowered,tuntilthequantity ofcigarettes is exhausted.

A desirable characteristic of the invention resides in the fact that itcan be formed entirely from cardboard or .the like. The bodyof the coverportion -32, for ,example, can be formed ofa blank of cardboard,integrally formed with extensions bendable to provide the fianges 39,portions 41, and sloped walls 40.

In the modified forrn shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the base is identical inevery respect to that of the first form. The cover portion 32 isidentical to that of the first form, inrespect to having a depending,rectangular body formed with walls 34, 36, and in respectto'havingflanges 39 merging into portions 41 that in turn merge intoupwardly divergent, sloped walls 40*. The only difference between theform shown in Fig. 5 and the form of cover portion shown in Figs. 1-4resides in the fact that at the ends of the portions 41 small slits 45are formed, defining spring tongues 46. Since cardboard is used, therewill be an inherent springability in the tongues, which even thoughrelatively low, will be suflicient for its intended purposes.

The tongues 46 are bent inwardly as in Figs. 5 and 6, so that theconfronting faces thereof converge in an upward direction.

Now, the tongues 46 are of a width only suflicient to permit them tomove into the open spaces below the overhangs or projections ofpartition 22. Therefore, when the-cover portion is'positioned upon thebase and is moved downwardly, tongues 46 will'initially be sprung apartby the projections 28. When the tongues move to a position below theprojections, however, the inherent springability of the tongues will bepermitted to assert itself and the tongues will now move into the Fig. 6position, in which positions they are disposed under the overhangs,whereby to locate the overhangs in the path of movement of the tonguesin the event the cover portion is moved upwardly to the Fig. 1 position.

Therefore, the tongues 46 will engage the overhangs 28 to limit movementof the cover portion beyond the raised position shown in Fig. 1 and indotted lines in Fig. 3, which position is determined to be proper fordispensing the cigarettes, that is, for locating the cigarette upon theledge 30. Complete separation of the cover and base portions will beprevented, however, in these circumstances.

If it is desired to deliberately separate the cover portion and baseportion, as for example when it is desired to remove the cigarettes thatare already in the device and replace them with fresh cigarettes, beforeall cigarettes have been dispensed, one merely exerts asqueezingpressure against the partition, with eyebrow tweezers or thelike inserted through slot 44. Now, when the dispenser is raised withthe partition squeezed, the distance between the walls 24, and hencebetween the projections 28, will be reduced sufiiciently to permit thetongues 46 to move past the projections, thereby allowing fullseparation of the cover and base portions.

This construction, thus, will normally prevent full separation of thecover and base portions, but will allow said separation if needed.

It is to be understood that this cigarette dispenser may be made of anysuitable sheet material, such as plastic, metal, etc.

(While we have illustrated and described the preferred embodiments ofour invention, it is to be understood that we do not limit ourselves tothe precise constructions herein disclosed and that various changesandmodifications may be made within the scope of the invention asdefined in the appended claims.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, .and desireto secure by United States Letters Patent is:

l. A cigarette dispensercomprising a base including an upwardly openingbody, a partition extending upwardly within the body and formed at itsupper end with a support ledge for a cigarette to be dispensed, a coverportion slidably telescoped in the open upper end of the body, saidcover portion including a top plate having a slot and a rectangular bodyportion slidably telescoped insaid body, said body portion having alower part formed with sloped, upwardly divergent side walls disposed atopposite sides of andslidably contacting said partition to direct towardthe partition cigarettes carried on the sloped walls, whereby acigarette will be moved onto said ledge on raising of the cover portion,and will be exposed for removal by a user when the cover portion islowered, said slot being slightly wider than the partition, said slopedwalls terminating at opposite ends ofthe body portion, the partitionbeing formed with overhangs at opposite ends thereof closely spaced fromthe adjacent walls of said body of the base to provide spaces adapted tobe entered by corresponding walls of the body portion, the partitionsbelow the overhangs being spaced a greater distance from said adjacentwalls of the body, said cover portion being formed at opposite endsthereof with pairs of upwardly convergent spring tongues, said tonguesbeing tensioned to extend under the overhangs to limitmovement of thecover portion upwardly from the base.

2. A cigarette dispenser comprising a base including an upwardly openingbody, a partition extending upwardly within the body and formed at itsupper end with a supportledge for a cigarette to be dispensed, a coverportion slidably telescoped in the open upper end of the body, saidcover portion including atop plate having a slot and a rectangular bodyportion slidably telescoped in said 'body, said body portion having ,alower part formed with sloped,.upwardly divergent side walls disposed atopposite sides of and slidably contacting said partition to directtoward the partition cigarettes carried on the sloped walls, whereby acigarette will be moved onto said ledge on raising of the cover portion,and will be exposed for removal by a user when the cover portion islowered, said slot being slightly wider than the partition, said slopedwalls terminating at opposite ends of the body portion, the partitionbeing formed with overhangs at opposite ends thereof closely spaced fromthe adjacent walls of said body of the base to provide-spaces adapted tobe entered by corresponding walls of the body portion, the partitionsbelow the overhangs being spaced at greater distance from said adjacentwalls of the body, said cover portion being formed at opposite endsthereof with pairs of upwardly convergent spring tongues, said tonguesbeing tensioned to extend under the overhangs to limit movement of thecover portion upwardly from the base, said base and cover portion beingformed wholly of cardboard material, the tongues being struck out ofsaid cardboard material.

3. A cigarette dispenser comprising a base including an upwardly openingbody, a partition extending upwardly within the body and formed at itsupper end with a support ledge for a cigarette to be dispensed, a coverportion slidably telescoped in the open upper end of the body, saidcover portion including a top plate having a slot and a rectangular bodyportion slidably telescoped in said body, said 'body portion having alower part formed with sloped, upwardly divergent side walls disposed atopposite sides of and slidably contacting said partition to directtoward the partition cigarettes carried on the sloped walls, whereby acigarette will be moved onto said ledge on raising of the cover portion,and will be exposed for removal by a user when the cover portion islowered, said slot being slightly wider than the partition, said slopedwalls terminating at opposite ends of the body portion, the partitionbeing formed with overhangs at opposite ends thereof closely spaced fromthe adjacent walls of said body of the base to provide spaces adapted tobe entered by corresponding walls of the body portion, the partitionsbelow the overhangs being spaced a greater distance from said adjacentwalls of the body, said cover portion being formed at opposite endsthereof with pairs of upwardly convergent spring tongues, said tonguesbeing tensioned to extend under the overhangs to limit movement of thecover portion upwardly from the base, said base and cover portion beingformed wholly of cardboard material, the tongues being struck out ofsaid cardboard material, the partition being of approximately invertedU-shape in cross section and being compressible manually to dispose theoverhangs out of the path of the tongues, whereby to permit intentionalseparation of the cover portion and base.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS

